Insulated shipping container



Get. R7,, 1950 w. L. MORRISON INSULATED SHIPPING CONTAINER 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 28, 1947 @ct. 17, 15 W. L. MORRISON 25233INSULATED SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed April 28,, 194.7 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A AA A AA A A A A A A A wmh D a 0 m0 0 0 Q Q- G o p i u 4 u, ("E B- D" 9 Dt 9 L?" 3 0 I Q D [nven Zor Wt aIaZ L. Moprisafi/ Patented a. 17, 1950 rUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INSULATED SHIPPING CONTAINER Willard L.Morrison, Highland Park, 111. Application April 28, 1947, Serial No.744,481

2 Claims,

My invention relates to improvements in insulated shipping containers,especially for use in connection with the shipment of foods in fairlylarge quantities but smallerthan carload lots.

It is of the utmost importance that shipping containers of this type,especially those used for the shipping of frozen food, be light anddurable. take up a minimum of space, be easily opened and shut, easilyloaded and unloaded, and require to a minimum extent servicing, repair,adjust ment and the like.

Such containers require anouter, stiff, rigid,

self-supporting housing, an inner, relatively stiff lining or box inwhich frozen food may be packed, and a light, preferably friable,insulating packing between theinner liner and the outer housing wall.

If the insulating packing is sufficiently light and filled withsufficient air spaces to afford adequate insulation, it will havelittle, if any, strength. So, it cannot well be used as a structuralmember to support the inner lining in the outer box or housing.

Many different schemes have been tried in the art in an effort toproperly position the lining spaced from the outer shell. Such proper apermanent positioning is of the utmost importance, as otherwise the.insulation would be damaged and the effectiveness of the box materiallyreduced. This is especially true in connection with boxes which aretransshipped from warehouse, to truck. to rail car, etc. 7

Structural elements having suflicient structural strength to support theload of the lining from the walls of thehousing, if of metal serve asconducting elements to conduct and encourage heat flow between thelining of the housing, if of wood they are expensive and difficult toinstall, sub-- ject -to decay and breakage, and always heavy andcumbersome. I

I propose to support the liningin the box by nonmetallic tension membersonly, which tension members are strong in tension but have nocompression-resisting strength, and propose to use these tension membersin the form of continuous sheets of rubber-impregnated fabric which'jointhe upper edges of the housing and the lining; The housing and the linngbeing stiff, these tension sheets will insure proper positioning of thelining within the housing, will avoid interference with or damage to theinsu ating lining, and since they are of rubber-' or plastic-impregnatedfabric, they will be inert to food contamination and can be used as apart of the structure without other coverage. The lid or cover for thecontainer will be built on the same principle.

My invention-is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the container and the cover, thecover about o beseated in the container;

showing abutting edges of cover and container;

and

Figure 3 is a plan view of the box.

Figure 4 is an elevation View of the box.

Like parts are indicated by like characters in the specification andclaims.

A is an outer, preferably rectangular, box or housing. It has a bottomwall I, side walls 2, preferably joined as at 3 to provide a stiffeningor reinforcing rib about the bottom of the box. B is a-liner for thebox. It has a bottom 4 and side walls 5. The bottom wall I is parallelwith the bottom 4. The side walls 2 are parallel with the liner sidewalls 5. Both boxes A and B are open at the top. C is a mass ofinsulation interposed between the boxes A and B, which mass ofinsulation preferably lacks any structural strength sufficient tosupport or position the box B withrespect to the box A. The box A mustbe still enough to protect the lining, insulation and the contents, so Ihave shown stiffening corrugations 6, which, of course, are filled withinsulation just as the rest of the box.

Extending along the upper edge of each of the walls 2 is an angleplate 1. That angle plate will preferably be welded to the upper edge ofeach of the walls 2, being parallel therewith, and will have anoutwardly flaring angular flange 8, this flange ext nding entirely aboutthe periphery of the box A, being associated with each of the four walls2. Of course, this flange could be made integral with the wall 6, ifdesired, and the process by which the particular wall is assembled andshaped forms no part of my invention. Suffice it to say that the flange8 terminates in a semi circular pocket 9. In opposition to thesemicircular pocket 9 is a clamp member, including an opposedsemicircular pocket It! and a flange member l I. This flange member Hmay be bolted to the flange member 8 by a series of nuts and bolts [2,I3.

The upper edge of each of the walls 5 defining the liner B is providedwith strips l4 having flanges defining semicyl'ndrical pockets l5in'opposition to clamping strips l6, and flanges defining-semicylindrieal pockets il in opposition to the pockets I5. Thesemembers I 5 and Hi are held together by hits and bolts H8. The flangesiM may be welded or otherwise attached to the upper edge of the wal s 5.l 1

' Extending along each of the opposed walls 2 and 5 is a tension strip,preferably of rubberor plastic-impregnated fabric l9. enlarged alongeach edge as at 20 as indicated, and each enlarged bead 20 is grippedWithin the cylindrical pockets on the outer upper edge of the casing onone side, and the upper boundary of the liner on the other side, thebead being clamped between the elements 9 and H! or [5 and It, as thecase may be, by the nut. and bolt 13 and I8. *Thus, the'only con- Thisstrip is nection between the liner B and the housing A is by means ofthe flat, thin, nonconductin plastic-coated fabric strips, and sincethose fabric strips join each of the four Walls and are under tension bythe weight of the lining B and its contents, whatever they may be, thelining B is kept properly positioned and centered in the housing orcasing A.

Since these strips 19 are flat and continuous and under tension at alltimes, they do not change in po ition, and so the insulating mass 2!located between the lining B and the casing A in the area bounded at thetop by the strips 19 is not subject to compression, distortion or otherdeleterious efiect as a result of the presence of the heavy-laden liningB within the casing A.

The bolts l2 arranged about the outer upper peripheries of the walls 2pass through any suitable apertures in the strips l9. It will be notedthat the upper outer edges of the strips 19 are held in one way, thelower inner edges are held in another way by slightly different clampinmechanisms, the principles of which are of course the same, and each oneof these clamping mechanisms might, if desired, be used interchangeablywith respect to the other.

The cover for the box comprises a horizontal plate 22 corrugated at 23and having exactly the same kind of flange I and 8 and cylindricalclamping pocket as described in connection with the walls 2. The linerfor the cover is a flat, horizontal plate 24 which terminates in thesame general type of clamping means as illustrated in connection withthe walls 5, except that, owing to difference in angles, the contour orrelative dimensions of the flanges defining the cylindrical pocket areslightly different. The lining 24 is thus supported from the cover 22 byexactly the same kind of beaded tension strips I9, and the insulation 2|is contained within the area defined by the plates 22, 24 and strips l9.

When the cove is put in place to close the container, the strips !9associated with each side of the receptacle are parallel and approachone another. Air leakage between the cover and box is prevented bypacking means 25, 26. Preferably such packin means take the form oflayers of thick, stiii, long-pile carpeting cemented or otherwiseattached one to each of the tension members Hi. This carpeting, when thecover is put in place, is compressed. The fibers or long piles interlockwith one another and furnish a most effective resistance to air flow,

thus making it unnecessary to have any immediate and definite contactbetween the tension strips l9, which of course would be very difficultbecause that would require a change in the contour of the clampingmeans. The clamping meanscan project inwardly without interference,because when the cover seats, even though the clamping means preventactual contact with the fabric plastic-impregnated strips [9, thecarpeting furnishes a complete seal.

The cover may be hinged or may merely be lifted out or dropped in place.The cover may be held in place by gravity, or clamping means may beprovided to hold it. The supporting and locking of the cover forms nopart of the present invention and is not further illustrated.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

Since the receptacle is always intended to be 'used standing on itsbottom on a substantially horizontal base. and since the liner, evenempty,

always has substantial weight, and since the four tension strips joiningthe four sides of the box are always under tension, never undercompression, the liner will always remain in place, and thus aninsulating medium may be selected which has maximum insulating effectand only needs sufficient mechanical strength to carry itself. When thecover is put in place, the fibrous carpet-like air seal means on theopposed strips on cover and box interlock to make a tight covering.There is no structural material known which has less heat-conductingcharacteristics, even wood itself, than the plasticor rubberimpregnatedfabric of which such tension strips are made. Hence, there is noconducting path whatever by which heat may fiow between the liner andthe outer housing, and thus there is nothing to interrupt the insulatingeifect of the insulating means used between the cover and the liner.

It will be realized that whereas I have illustrated and described anoperative device, still many changes may be made without departingmateriallyfrom the spirit of my invention, and I wish, therefore, thatmy showing be taken as in a broad sense illustrative and diagrammaticrather than limiting me to my precise showing.

I claim:

1. A container including an outer, self-supporting, open topped housing,a flange upwardly and outwardly inclined and extending about the opentop of the housing, an open top liner within the housing out of contactwith the walls thereof, a strip of flexible, non-metallic, plasticimpregnated, fabric material having a bead along each edge, the flangebeing grooved to engage the bead, clamp means in opposition to theflange and groove to hold the bead in the groove, clamp means extendingabout the periphery of the open top of the liner adapted to engage theopposed bead and hold it in fixed relation to the liner, the strip beingthroughout its entire width parallel with the flange on the housing.

2. A container including a rectangular, outer, self-supporting housing,a rectangular inner liner concentric therewith, the walls of the twobein out of contact, the liner and housing being open at the top, theopenings being bounded by the rectangular walls, the walls of the linertermihating below the walls of the housing, clamp members encircling theopen mouths of housing and liner, a flexible, non-metallic, plasticimpregnated, fabric sheet beaded on both edges, one bead engaging theclam means on the housing, the other bead engaging the clamp means onthe liner, to hold the liner and housing in fixed relationship andsuspend the liner in the housing, the sheet being located in a singleplane throughout its entire area whereby the sheet is throughout itsentire area in direct straight line tension.

WILLARD L. MORRISON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Num er Name Date 430,394 Muller June 17, 18901310.615 Knight June 16, 1931 2,036,781 Stennstrup Apr. '7, 19362,414,061 Richard Jan. '7, 1947 2,426,525 Rundell M. Aug. 26, 1947

